Podcasts about community legal services

In this timely roundtable, Lisa and Hemma sit down with Mary Inman and Liz Soltan, two powerhouse advocates in the whistleblower legal space, to unpack the DOJ's newly revised Corporate Whistleblower Awards (CWA) Pilot Program and its implications for the compliance community.  We also explore what makes whistleblowing work, how to support internal and external reporters, and why this moment may mark a turning point for global whistleblower engagement. Highlights: Mary and Liz break down the newly added DOJ priority areas How the CWA Pilot Program could evolve into a DOJ equivalent of the SEC whistleblower program Why organizational justice and psychological safety must be embedded into internal reporting systems. How tips must result in asset forfeiture to trigger awards Why we need a speak-up culture, not just a hotline Resources  DOJ's May 2025 Criminal Division White-Collar Enforcement Plan Revised DOJ Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program: DOJ Announcement Speech by Matthew R. Galeotti at the SIFMA AML and Financial Crimes Conference Link to speech Whistleblowing Study by Stephen Stubbens and Kyle Welch Whistleblower Partners LLP: Mary Inman, Liz Soltan Biographies   Mary Inman Partner, Whistleblower Partners LLP Mary Inman is a seasoned attorney with over 30 years of experience representing whistleblowers under various U.S. programs, including the False Claims Act, SEC, CFTC, IRS, FinCEN, and NHTSA/DOT. After spending three years in London, she now focuses on international whistleblowers exposing misconduct with ties to the U.S.. She assists clients in bringing claims to foreign regulators such as the Ontario Securities Commission and the Canada Revenue Agency. Mary is renowned for her expertise in healthcare, tech, and financial services fraud. She has represented high-profile whistleblowers like Frances Haugen (Facebook) and Tyler Shultz (Theranos), and co-authored The Tech Workers' Handbook, a guide for tech industry whistleblowers. Her advocacy extends to testifying before global governmental bodies, including the European Commission and UK Parliament, championing the effectiveness of U.S. whistleblower programs. Mary holds a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and has clerked for judges in both the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals. Outside of her legal work, she enjoys participating in her husband's YouTube channel and spending time in northern Maine. Liz Soltan Associate, Whistleblower Partners LLP Liz Soltan is an associate at Whistleblower Partners LLP, focusing on cases involving financial fraud, anti-money laundering, and sanctions evasion. Her notable work includes representing a foreign whistleblower in a FinCEN sanctions violation case concerning illegal sales to Russia. Liz also contributed to the landmark Medicare Advantage risk adjustment fraud case, United States ex rel. Poehling v. UnitedHealth Group, Inc. Before joining Whistleblower Partners, Liz served as a Skadden Fellow at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, where she was part of a team that secured $712 million in emergency food stamp benefits for 650,000 households during the COVID-19 pandemic. She earned her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she led the Wage and Hour Practice Group at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau and successfully argued a workers' rights case before Massachusetts' highest court. Liz completed her undergraduate studies at Cornell University, graduating summa cum laude with a major in History and a minor in Spanish. Residing in Brooklyn, Liz maintains strong ties to her Philadelphia roots. She enjoys participating in a fiction-only book club, exploring historical sites, and spending time with her husband, son, and their two cats, Alex Trebek and Vanna White.

Everyone makes mistakes, especially in their youth. If a mistake lands you in prison or convicted of a crime, it can haunt you for the rest of your life - but many people are fighting to turn their lives around after a conviction. As a returning citizen, Shuja Moore started a nonprofit called Do Moore Good to help others on the reentry path and to encourage youth to achieve their full potential. He recently made a documentary called “Pardon Me” about the process and significance of getting pardoned. Host Racquel Williams talks with Shuja and two women who have been through the pardon process to reclaim their names and build better lives. You can find help getting a pardon and other legal resources through Community Legal Services. Then, on Shara in the City, Black Dragon Takeout in West Philly has been getting a ton of buzz for its fusion of soul food with the aesthetics of Chinese takeout. Shara Dae Howard stops by to hear how this idea formed, and to decide if their wings live up to the hype. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, we have the privilege of hosting not one, not two, but three guests! We speak with Jim Mason, the president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, Kathleen Creamer, the managing attorney at Community Legal Services' Family Advocacy Unit, and Martin Guggenheim, the founder and retired co-director of New York University School of Law's Family Defense Clinic.These longtime experts in their fields spend some time with us today discussing best practices for parents and important things to know if CPS shows up at your family's door.The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

Florida recently restored the right to vote to over a million individuals who have served time for felony criminal convictions, but thousands in the state are still disenfranchised due to court fees and other hurdles. Hear from lawyers involved in voting rights restoration — as well as a client looking forward to voting — about the long and complex effort to advocate for full participation in democracy, and how pro bono has made a difference. Host Alicia Aiken speaks with Lena Hopkins of Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, Desmond Meade of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, Raymond A. Traendly of TK Law, and client Wayne Wilson for this timely episode. Related Links: Voting Rights Restoration Efforts in Florida: A summary of current felony disenfranchisement policies and legislative advocacy in Florida

I'm super excited to bring you the first ever (but not the last) Ask Me Anything episode. We put out a call for questions and you all came through. We received more questions than we could get to in one episode. We also asked the Proximity Podcast Club if someone wanted to guest host. Again, lots of interest but there could only be one host. Kathleen Creamer is a parent defense attorney but has a real talent for hosting. Maybe she'll have her own show soon. Kathleen curated your questions, and we covered ground from why I started the show, what I hope to accomplish, who inspires me, and what gives me hope. Of course, we ended with our two questions, what does proximity mean to me and what advice do I have for the listeners. I hope you enjoy this episode! For more information about Kathleen and her work please visit Community Legal Services of Philadelphia. Community Legal Services You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link.Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

This week, Kathleen Creamer is returning to the EPPiC Broadcast. Kathleen is the managing attorney of the Family Advocacy Unit at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia. This week, Kathleen gives us an overview of many topics under discussions at the ABA Center on Children and the Law's recent National Conference on Parent Representation, which featured panels from many of the top scholars, lawyers, and authors in the world of child welfare reform. Support the Show.

Since the pandemic began, there has been significant efforts by advocates to create better laws and regulations to protect nursing home residents. The pandemic and its devastating impact on nursing home residents has resulted in many states passing new laws or creating new regulations regarding a variety of areas, including staffing, transparency, and the nursing home workforce. On this episode, you will hear from two advocates that have been successful in getting new laws and regulations passed and promulgated. Tony Chicotel, Senior Staff Attorney at California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform and Pam Walz, Supervising Attorney at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, will discuss recent legislative and regulatory victories and how they helped ensure they were implemented.

In this week's journal episode, I talk about a simple practice that I have used throughout my career to remain curious, adaptable, and in service of people. This is something that you can start doing today. This practice has helped me avoid falling into status quo and one I've observed it do the same for other leaders. The practice is to listen to people's experiences, learn from and trust their expertise, and take action together. I share some of my own experiences of how this practice has helped guide my work. I also mention a number of leaders who I really respect and continue to learn from about how they practice deep listening, learning, and action. I'll include their names and LinkedIn pages below as they are great people to have in your network.  Cherie Craft, Smart from the Start - Cherie Craft | LinkedInKatie Albright, Safe and Sound - Katie Albright | LinkedInJoyce McMillan, JMacforFamilies - Joyce McMillan | LinkedInMelody Webb, Mother's Outreach Network - Melody Webb | LinkedInSarah Winograd, Together With Families - Sarah Winograd-Babayeuski | LinkedInYou are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link.Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

I remember learning about the 2020 Vision in 2007 when I started working in child welfare. It was a new national initiative with the goal of reducing the number of kids in foster care by 50% by the year 2020. I was working with kids aging out and watching the impact of growing up in foster care play out in front of my eyes. I remember being inspired by this initiative and hopeful about its impact. Today's guest is Susan Smith who led the data team at Casey Family Programs for 16 years and was responsible for tracking and reporting on the initiative's progress. As we know, the initiative did not ultimately succeed. Susan and I use the 2020 Vision as a jumping off point to a conversation about what we can learn from the successes and failures of past initiatives. There are a number of national initiatives right now with bold ambitions. What can history teach us about solving and measuring the right problems. You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link.Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

This week's episode is a journal entry that was prompted by the Proximity Podcast Club conversation. We were talking about a question posed to the group by Corey Best, who am I without the family policing system? This immediately got me thinking about a few fundamental questions that I talk about in this episode. What did the system provide me? What did the system cost me? Where does my security actually come from?  Is there wisdom gained from sitting in the ambiguity that we wrestle with in this work? What would we imagine and create if we were unconstrained from trying to reform or improve the system? These are big questions that we can't answer on one podcast episode (or many) but they are good prompts for us to work with over time. I hope you find them helpful in your own journaling practice. You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link.Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

Today's episode is a conversation with Kathleen Creamer that you don't want to miss. Kathleen is the Managing Attorney at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia where she and her team use a holistic family defense model to help parents maintain custody of or reunite with their children. We center the conversation on the necessity of Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) as well as the constitutionality and morality of TPR. We also weave in some of the history of how these policies came to be and the mindsets that underpin them.  One of the questions we leave on the table is what if TPR no longer existed, what opportunities would that create to pursue justice? If you want to learn more about Kathleen and her work, you can visit Community Legal Services. Kathleen references the work and writing of professor, author, and activist Dorothy Roberts. You can learn more about her work at Dorothy Roberts.You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link.Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

On today's show, I welcome Steve Oross and Lorrie McKinley to the show. Steve Oross is an Associate Professor of psychology at Kutztown University and as listeners of this show will recall, in Fall 2021 Steve Oross was denied ADA accommodations by Kutztown University's administration. Oross had a heart transplant in February 2021. Following months of physical therapy and treatment, his doctors cleared him to return to work in Fall 2021 provided that he taught his classes online given that COVID was still rampant and would pose a significant risk to his life. Rather than providing Oross with accommodations, the administration said the only way they would allow him to return to work would be if he taught in-person. Rather than risk his life or being forced to go on unpaid leave pr losing his job, Oross decided to fight. Thanks to his determination and the amazing advocacy of his attorney, Lorrie McKinley, Oross won his case. Steve's experience has led him to wider spheres of advocacy as well. Steve is a Team Member with the World Health Network focusing on Legal Action for Policy Change. He has also become involved in the Organ Donation Awareness Corporation which is a student-led organ donation advocacy group with chapters in NYC and Nashville, Tennessee, involving other students from around the country. He will be participating in a series of webinars with this group focused on promoting organ donation among young adults. Lorrie McKinley, is one of the few lawyers in the Philadelphia area with undisputed expertise in both employment law and special education advocacy and litigation. She is a passionate, bold and creative advocate with a long track record of protecting the civil rights of employees and students under the nation's civil rights law at every level of the state and federal courts. Lorrie is widely recognized for her contributions in the employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act as well as her advocacy on behalf of children with special needs. Prior to entering private practice in 1997, Lorrie served as Project Head for the Employment Law Project at Community Legal Services, Inc. in Philadelphia. In 1997 she argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving constitutional due process issues for people receiving medical benefits pursuant to the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act. Her work in that case is highlighted in an exhibit in the Supreme Court Section of the United States Constitution Center in Philadelphia. For over a decade, Lorrie has been selected by her peers as one of the “Best Lawyers in America.” Since 2008, she has also been listed as a “Super Lawyer” by Thompsons Reuters based on peer recognition and professional achievement. LINKS: Oross v. Kutztown University | https://casetext.com/case/oross-v-kutztown-univ McKinley & Ryan, LLC | https://www.mckinleyryan.com/ "Kutztown professor with heart transplant should have been able to teach from home, judge says," Susan Snyder, The Phildadelphia Inquirer | https://bit.ly/49PcBNL Out d'Coup LIVE | Steve Oross - Kutztown U Demands Faculty Member to Choose Between Life and Livelihood, Sept. 6, 2021 | https://bit.ly/3h9EuqZ Disability Rights PA | https://www.disabilityrightspa.org/ If we want a progressive future, we need progressive media. Support pull-no-punches, homegrown progressive media today by becoming a patron of Raging Chicken for as little as $5/month. Simply go to https://www.patreon.com/rcpress. Help keep the media in the movement and the movement in the media. Become a patron for as little as $5/month by going to https://www.patreon.com/rcpress. Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u  

In this episode, Torn Apart shows that the child welfare system was designed from its beginning to oppress marginalized communities.  The episode explores how the child welfare system's roots in slavery, settler colonialism, and white supremacy, taking listeners on a journey to the separation of enslaved children from their mothers on plantations and the return of freed Black children to former enslavers as court-ordered apprentices.  It uncovers how over time, the child welfare system went from neglecting Black  children to over policing, surveilling, separating and punishing Black families.Meet Dorothy Roberts:Dorothy Roberts is a distinguished professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Founding Director of its Program on Race, Science & Society.  An internationally acclaimed scholar, public intellectual, and social justice activist, she is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, American Philosophical Society, and National Academy of Medicine.  She is the author of the award-winning Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty ; Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare; and Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century , as well as more than 100 articles and book chapters, including “Race” in the 1619 Project. Her latest book, Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families—And How Abolition Can Build a Safer World , culminates more than two decades of investigating family policing, calling for a radically reimagined way to support children and families. With Guests:·         Laura Briggs is an expert on U.S. and international child welfare policy and  transnational and transracial adoption. She is a professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  Briggs' latest book, Taking Children: A History of American Terror, examines the 400-year-old history of state removal of children from marginalized communities—from the taking of Black and Native children during America's founding to Donald Trump's policy of family separation targeting asylum seekers. ·         Daniel Hatcher is a professor at University of Baltimore School of Law and author of The Poverty Industry: The Exploitation of America's Most Vulnerable Citizens and Injustice, Inc: How America's Justice Style Commodifies Children and the Poor. His scholarship reveals how state agencies commodify vulnerable populations they exist to serve, often with the assistance of private contractors—violating ethics, laws, constitutional requirements, and agency purpose.  ·         Kelley Fong is an assistant professor of sociology at UC Irvine whose work focuses on state intervention into motherhood and families. Her first book,  Investigating Families: Motherhood in the Shadow of Child Protective Services, was published with Princeton University Press in 2023.·         Kathleen Creamer is the Managing Attorney of the Family Advocacy Unit at Community Legal Services, which uses a holistic family defense model to help parents involved with the child welfare system maintain custody of or reunite with their children in Philadelphia. Ms. Creamer led the coalition that developed and lobbied for the successful passage of the 2010 Healthy Birth for Incarcerated Women Act, which curtailed the practice of shackling incarcerated women during childbirth in Pennsylvania's jails and prisons.

In this episode, Professor Dorothy Roberts opens Torn Apart with a first-hand account from a young Black mother, Vanessa Peoples, who became the subject of a government child welfare investigation when a stranger accused Peoples of neglecting her young son who had wandered away from her briefly in a park.  Professor Roberts brings the listeners through the horrors that the child welfare system inflicts on families by invading homes, targeting low-income families, and threatening to separate parents and children.  With the help of guest experts, Professor Roberts argues that the family policing system is designed to terrorize low-income, majority Black families.Check out this episode's landing page at MsMagazine.com for a full transcript, links to articles referenced in this episode, further reading and ways to take action.Meet Dorothy RobertsDorothy Roberts is a distinguished professor of Africana Studies, Law, and Sociology atUniversity of Pennsylvania. An elected member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences,  American Philosophical Society, and National Academy of Medicine, she is author of the best selling book on reproductive justice, Killing the Black Body. Her latest book, Torn Apart, won the 2023 American Sociological Association Distinguished Scholarly Book Award Honorable Mention, was a finalist for an LA Times Book Prize and C. Wright Mills Award, and was shortlisted for the Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice.With Guests:Vanessa Peoples is a young Black mother from Aurora, Colorado, who was targeted in 2017 by child protective services and forced to plead guilty to endangering her child, despite no evidence that she endangered her child.Kathleen Creamer is the Managing Attorney of the Family Advocacy Unit at Community Legal Services, which uses a holistic family defense model to help parents involved with the child welfare system maintain custody of or reunite with their children in Philadelphia. In addition to individual representation of parents in dependency court, Ms. Creamer has focused much of her advocacy on supporting incarcerated parents and their families.  From 2011-2013, she served as a Stoneleigh Foundation Fellow dedicated to Improving Reunification Outcomes for Children of Incarcerated Parents. Ms. Creamer also led the coalition that developed and lobbied for the successful passage of the 2010 Healthy Birth for Incarcerated Women Act, which curtailed the practice of shackling incarcerated women during childbirth in Pennsylvania's jails and prisons.Kelley Fong is an assistant professor of sociology at UC Irvine whose work focuses on state intervention into motherhood and families. Her first book,  Investigating Families: Motherhood in the Shadow of Child Protective Services, was published with Princeton University Press in 2023.Background Reading- Fostering tragedy: Experts say system designed to protect children can break up families- One in Ten Black Children in America Are Separated From Their Parents by the Child-Welfare System. A New Book Argues That's No Accident- Benevolent Terror: Dorothy E. Roberts on Reimagining the Child Welfare System

For this week's episode of Off-Kilter, Rebecca sat down with Jen Burdick, supervising attorney of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) unit at Community Legal Services (CLS), Rebecca's legal aid alma mater. They had a far ranging conversation about how “eligibility doesn't equal access” and other lessons Jen has learned throughout her years as a public benefits lawyer; the human consequences of a decade-plus of defunding the Social Security Administration, from years-long backlogs in disability cases to overpayments that wreak havoc in beneficiaries' lives; how Jen combines her client representation with policy advocacy and why the perspective of direct service providers like legal aid lawyers is so valuable to shaping public policy and legislative reform; how outdated policies like outdated asset limits lead to inhumane surveillance of poor people's finances; the toxicity of the collective limiting belief that poor families aren't to be trusted with their own money, and how that shows up in the SSI program, through “dedicated accounts” that restrict how families are able to spend their benefits; and lots more.   Links from this episode: Follow Jen and CLS on Twitter/X: @jen_burdick @clsphila and learn more about CLS's work at clsphila.org Here's the Kaiser Health News story on needless SSI overpayments and how they wreak havoc in low-income beneficiaries' lives For more on the disinvestment in SSA's administrative budget, check out this Off-Kilter episode And for more on how eligibility doesn't equal access in public assistance programs, here's the prior Off-Kilter episode that Jen was featured in

On Tuesday morning the Bush Foundation announced its 2023 Bush Fellows. They are 24 community leaders from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and 23 Native nations who will be eligible to receive a flexible grant up to $100,000 to pursue education. Their work stands to have a profound ripple effect across the region in the areas of mental health, community storytelling, food accessibility, and much more. MPR News guest host Emily Bright spoke with just one—her name is Nadine Graves. She's been a Hennepin County Public Defender and is Deputy Director, of Community Legal Services at the Legal Rights Center. She is especially passionate about using storytelling to shift concepts of justice. Her own trauma-filled youth led to a criminal record at a young age. Now, she's interested in undoing the dehumanization she felt from the criminal justice system.

He survived a military career of 22 years that included combat missions in some of most dangerous regions in the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan. Jeff now combines his huge heart for veterans with not only his background in the military - but also with his expertise in law. As an attorney, Jeff is CEO of Community Legal Services, a company that uses the motto "Legal aid for all." He gives insights into some of his experiences while at war.

We met Zakya Hall during the COVID scramble to keep nonprofits alive and active during the lockdown when she was working to keep services flowing in Philadelphia neighborhoods at PACDC. We asked her to tell a story at MISSION Story Slam 6 and she told a great one about life in her Strawberry Mansion neighborhood winning the Crowd Favorite Award. Over one year later we wrangled an interview with Zakya about her story and her new work at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia on the MISSION Story Slam Podcast.

Erika K. Wilson is fighting back against racialized violence in civil courts! In Part Two of our conversation, she shares how she's putting critical race theory into practice at UNC's Critical Race Lawyering Clinic, why representing Black and Brown people is not the same as working through a race equity lens, and what happens when her clients push back against anti-blackness. Altogether, Professor Wilson demonstrates that the law cannot be at the center of dismantling white supremacy. If you haven't already, listen to Part One of Kee's conversation with Professor Wilson on the legal foundations of white supremacy. Guest: Erika K. Wilson (@Erika_K_Wilson) is a Professor of Law, the Wade Edwards Distinguished Scholar and Thomas Willis Lambeth Distinguished Chair in Public Policy at the UNC School of Law. She directs the Critical Race Lawyering Clinic.If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected.How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Farwa Zaidi. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

He is a combat veteran of 22 years, having served multiple deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, and serves to this day in the Florida National Guard. Jeff Harvey understands better than most the plight of individuals-like many Vietnam vets-that need to have representation by someone who knows and feels what they've gone through. Jeff's organization - Community Legal Services - represents the underserved, offering their services in such areas as family law, housing, veteran's benefits, and much more.

Keeping kids safe is one of our greatest responsibilities as adults. But what if the main tool we use to protect children is actually preventing everyone from getting the resources they need? Every state in the nation has mandatory reporting laws that require professions such as teachers, coaches, nurses, and more to report any suspected or observed instances of child abuse to the state. While this sounds logical, its application has effectively made a surveillance apparatus out of educators, health care, and social workers, which leaves the families most in need of help afraid to ask for it, at the risk of opening an investigation.    The pitfalls of mandatory reporting are especially evident in Pennsylvania. In the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, Pennsylvania lawmakers passed sweeping reforms expanding mandatory reporting and the definition of child abuse to include low-level neglectful circumstances that often arise from poverty. Since reforms were implemented in 2014, reports have skyrocketed, but recent studies have shown that this increase has not turned up any additional victims of child abuse but has rather over-stretched the system. Within the first five years of the reforms, one million calls were made to the state's child abuse hotline. 800,000 regarded low-level neglect allegations stemming from poverty, and nine in ten were dismissed following traumatic housing searches and family questioning that disproportionately target Black and brown families.  
Here to help explain the mandatory reporting system and its consequences are Director of Client Voice at Philadelphia's Community Legal Services, April Lee, who experienced firsthand how mandatory reporting can traumatize families, and Anjana Samant, Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU's Women's Rights Project

Professor Erika K. Wilson lays out the legal foundations of white supremacy, breaking down how the law has distributed power and resources in favor of white people over everyone else. Plus, she brings the receipts to prove it! If you've ever wondered how systemic racism has persisted after the courts struck down Black Codes and Jim Crow laws, this is a conversation you don't want to miss.This episode is part I of the conversation with Professor Wilson. In part II, you'll learn how civil courts produce racialized violence and how Professor Wilson's Critical Race Lawyering Clinic applies critical race theory to legal aid. Guest:Erika K. Wilson (@Erika_K_Wilson) is a Professor of Law, the Wade Edwards Distinguished Scholar and Thomas Willis Lambeth Distinguished Chair in Public Policy at the UNC School of Law. She also directs the Critical Race Lawyering Clinic at UNC.If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected.How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Farwa Zaidi. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

Welcome to Pennsylvania's ChildLine Registry… where parents can be labeled as child abusers for life with no right to a hearing. In 2004, Angela West and six coworkers were placed on the ChildLine Registry after a child at their job developed unexplained bruising. Ms. West fought to clear her name for 18 years before finally winning her appeal, but she could not get living wage jobs in her field or volunteer at her grandchildren's schools during that time. Angela West and CLS Attorney Tracie Johnson discuss the racialized harm of Pennsylvania's ChildLine Registry and imagine better ways to protect children from abuse and neglect. Trigger Warning:  This conversation pertains to the topic of child abuse, and may not be appropriate for young people.Guests: Tracie Johnson is the lead Staff Attorney for the Youth Justice Project at Community Legal Services where she connects young people ages 16-24 to free legal help with criminal records, public benefits, housing, debt, and their families.Angela West works in direct support for men and women with mental health challenges. As an advocate, Ms. West is the lead petitioner in CLS's ChildLine Registry lawsuit A.W. v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected.How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Farwa Zaidi. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

Nearly 5 million people living in Appalachia are Black and Brown,  but Appalachians have been reduced to stereotypes of white coal miners in the mainstream media. Attorney Loree Stark breaks down what's really going on in Appalachia, including how systemic inequity, exploitation of the labor force, disability, housing instability, and predatory lending all intersect in this unique part of the country. Loree then shares how mutual aid groups and others in the community are building coalitions and sharing stories to make change.Guest: Loree Stark (@loreestark), is a Staff Attorney at the Human Rights Defense Center. Prior to joining HRDC, she worked for the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia, Mountain State Justice, and the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky. If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected.How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Farwa Zaidi. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

Educators can legally hit students at school in 19 states, but school-based violence is forcing young people with marginalized identities out of school everywhere. Ashley Sawyer joins us to discuss the legacy of racial discrimination in education policy and systems of school-based violence. She lays out how the school-to-prison pipeline, pushout, sexual harassment, and corporal punishment force young people with marginalized identities out of school, and she calls attention to the demands of Black and Latina girls who are organizing to create safe, healing, and supportive schools. Finally, Ashley urges policymakers to make radical investments in young people, schools, families, and communities to address the root causes of violence and harm. Trigger Warning: Ashley shares graphic stories about what's happening to young people in schools. This conversation also includes topics that may not be appropriate for young children.Guest: Ashley Sawyer (@ACSawyerJustice) is a Senior Staff Attorney on the Opportunity to Lead (Education) team at Advancement Project. Ashley's life work is situated where education and the criminal justice system collide, and she has previously served at Girls for Gender Equity, Youth Represent, and the Education Law Center. If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected.How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Farwa Zaidi. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

Black families pay higher property taxes than white families each year, and these unfairly high bills are helping to force Black people out of cities. Montgomery Wilson breaks down in great detail how Black homeowners end up paying more than their white counterparts in property taxes and how tax assessments are systematically inaccurate in Black and low income communities. He also shares what cities can do to solve this massive injustice and keep people in their homes. After this interview, you'll never hear the words property tax assessment the same way again. Guest: Montgomery Wilson is a senior attorney with CLS's Consumer Housing Unit.  His practice focuses largely on municipal tax foreclosure & mortgage foreclosure defense in both state and federal court. He has also worked extensively with local community organizations and the City of Philadelphia to aid Philadelphia homeowners faced with real estate tax lien foreclosures. If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected.How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Farwa Zaidi. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

One in four adults in the United States has a disability. Yet, disability is often an afterthought for policymakers. Lauren DeBruicker examines how disability and race intersect within the civil legal system and the impact of systemic racism on Black and Brown people with disabilities. Lauren also recounts the rich history of activism in the disability justice movement and what can be done to expand legal protections for disabled people.Guest: Lauren DeBruicker is an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. As the U.S. Attorney's Office's Deputy Civil Chief for Civil Rights, Lauren oversees the office's investigation and prosecution of violations of federal civil rights laws, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fair Housing Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Lauren is an active member of the disability community and an advocate for access and independent living in the region. If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected.How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Farwa Zaidi. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

Sofia Ali-Khan breaks down the forced migration of Black and Brown people in every corner of this country. Her new book, A Good Country: My Life in Twelve Towns and the Devastating Battle for a White America, recounts government efforts to preserve a white center in each of the places she's lived, worked, and worshiped. Sofia also discusses her time as a legal aid attorney at Community Legal Services and why she believes that learning our true history is the very first step in achieving the change we seek. Guest: Sofia Ali-Khan (Sofia_alikhan) is a social justice lawyer turned writer. She has worked for Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, Prairie State Legal Services in Illinois, and the American Bar Association. Sofia's writing at the intersection of politics, race, history, and Muslim America has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Time, the Chicago Tribune, Tricycle Magazine, and on several other platforms.If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected.How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Farwa Zaidi. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

Pennsylvania State Senator Nikil Saval breaks down why racism is the bedrock of America's housing system and how anti-Black attitudes led the federal government to neglect affordable housing for decades. Senator Saval illustrates how movements can build power through coalition-building and “making an ask,” and he explains how initiatives like a Homes Guarantee, Whole-Home Repairs, and eviction record sealing would help address racial inequity in housing.Guests: Nikil Saval (@SenatorSaval) represents Pennsylvania's first district in the State Senate. Prior to elected office, Senator Saval was an organizer with UNITE HERE and the Bernie Sanders campaign, as well as a journalist for the New York Times, The New Yorker, and n+1.If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected.How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Farwa Zaidi. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

How Is That Legal is back and better than ever in Season 2! Kee Tobar, Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer of Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, invites experts from a wide range of backgrounds to break down examples of systemic racism in the law and policy. By the end of each episode, you'll understand the forces behind everyday injustices that make us ask, “How in the world is that legal?” Airing weekly on Wednesdays wherever you get your podcasts.If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on all social media @CLSphila to stay connected.How Is that Legal is produced by Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Farwa Zaidi. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

On today's episode of The Confluence: Gov. Tom Wolf issued a record-breaking number of pardons during his tenure — 2,540 while in office — and we discuss the work being done to offer those who were incarcerated second chances; the Community College of Allegheny County got a funding increase from the county, we talk about what's on the horizon for the local institution following enrollment decreases; and we answer a listener's question about whose responsibility it is to maintain private roads in the city. Today's guests include: Sharon Dietrich, litigation director at Community Legal Services, Inc.; and Quintin Bullock, president of the Community College of Allegheny County.

In this podcast, we speak with Jeffrey Harvey (CEO, Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida/CLS) about his time in the Army and his transition to the legal arena. Jeffrey shares his backstory about his time in service and his transition back home. He speaks about his journey through law school and his becoming CEO of CLS. Jeff shares his leadership aha moments and some wisdom he attained in leadership. We cover some of his tips for new leaders and how he strategizes around times of change and challenges. To get a hold of Jeffrey: Website: https:www.clsmf.org Email: jeffh@clsmf.org Linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-d-harvey-esq This episode is sponsored by the Veterans Entrepreneurship Initiative (VEI) Website: https://vei.center LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/empowerveterans --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-leadership-void/support

Stand Up is a daily podcast that I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 800 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous souls Check out StandUpwithPete.com to learn more Maura Quint  is a humor writer and activist whose work has been featured in publications such as McSweeneys and The New Yorker. She was named one of Rolling Stone's top 25 funniest twitter accounts of 2016. When not writing comedy, Maura has worked extensively with non-profits in diverse sectors including political action campaigns, international arts collectives and health and human services organizations. She has never been officially paid to protest but did once find fifteen cents on the ground at an immigrants' rights rally and wanted to make sure that had been disclosed. She was the co founder and executive director of TaxMarch.org  She is now the Wealth Tax Campaign Director at the Americans for Tax Fairness Rebecca Vallas is a senior fellow and co-director of The Century Foundation's Disability Economic Justice Collaborative, where she leads TCF's work to achieve economic justice for people with disabilities and their families. Vallas joins TCF after seven years at the Center for American Progress, during which she helped to build and lead CAP's Poverty to Prosperity Program, in a range of roles, including as the program's first policy director and managing director, and later as vice president. During her time at CAP, Vallas also helped to establish CAP's Disability Justice Initiative—the first disability policy project at a U.S. think tank—as well as the organization's criminal justice reform work. Listen to her podcast "Off Kilter"   Much of Vallas's policy and advocacy work flows from her years as a legal aid lawyer. In partnership with her legal aid alma mater, she co-developed the “clean slate” model of automated, automatic criminal record-clearing that is now law in Pennsylvania, Utah, Michigan, Connecticut, Delaware, Virginia, and advancing in additional states—while advancing national momentum for removing barriers to economic opportunity for justice-impacted individuals and families. In 2019, she co-founded the Clean Slate Initiative, a national organization supporting state efforts to adopt clean slate policies. Vallas previously served as the deputy director of government affairs for the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives, working to protect and strengthen the Social Security disability programs, including as co-chair of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Social Security Task Force. Forever a legal aid lawyer at heart, Vallas spent several years representing low-income individuals and families at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, where she began her work as a Skadden Fellow, and was the inaugural recipient of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association's New Leaders in Advocacy Award. Vallas has authored dozens of policy reports on antipoverty policy, income security, disability policy, access to justice, and criminal records/reentry policy; testified before Congress and state legislatures on numerous occasions; and been cited and quoted in media outlets across the country. She is also the creator and host of Off-Kilter, a nationally distributed podcast about poverty, inequality, and everything they intersect with. Vallas serves on the Board of Directors of the National Academy of Social Insurance and is a member of the Academy's 2020–2021 Economic Security Study Panel. Vallas was twice named to Forbes magazine's “30 Under 30” for law and policy, and later to Emory University's “40 Under 40.” She received her law degree from the University of Virginia and graduated summa cum laude from Emory University, where she received a bachelor's degree in psychology. In a past life, she was an operatically trained mezzo soprano. She's the proud mother of three rescue kitties. Check out all things Jon Carroll Follow and Support Pete Coe Pete on YouTube Pete on Twitter Pete On Instagram Pete Personal FB page

This week, we talk with Jamie Gullen. Jamie is the Managing Attorney of the Employment Unit and Youth Justice Project at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia. On August 10th, Community Legal Services filed a lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania over Pennsylvania's state child abuse registry. When child abuse investigations are opened, parents are automatically placed on the registry, regardless of whether they have actually been convicted of child abuse. Jamie is the lead attorney on the lawsuit, and today she explains how Pennsylvania's child abuse registry violates due process for parents. You can learn more about Jamie's work here. Support the show

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! We're kicking off our fifth season by talking with Kathleen Creamer, managing attorney of the Family Advocacy Unit at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia.Despite the life-altering consequences of CPS investigations, up to losing their children forever, many parents go to court completely unrepresented by any legal counsel. The system is particularly harsh on low-income families and families of color. Kathleen works to give high-quality legal aid to families caught up in child welfare investigations in Pennsylvania. Kathleen also breaks down how anonymous child abuse hotlines and central registries for child abusers, while ostensibly intended to protect children, often do more harm than good to innocent families. Plus, hear about a new bill in Pennsylvania that threatens parents with compulsory drug screenings based only on an anonymous hotline call. You can learn more about Kathleen's work on the CLS website, and you can hear more from her on her Twitter. Also check out Community Legal Services' podcast, How Is That Legal?.Support the show

In this special episode of How Is That Legal, Kee invites her friend and CLS colleague Tracie Johnson to reflect on lessons learned this season and what else needs to be explored next season. Kee and Tracie both share shocking stories that made them ask, “How in the world is that legal?” and talk about the importance of centering people who are impacted by inequity when creating solutions. See you next season!Guest: Tracie Johnson is the lead staff attorney for the Youth Justice Project at Community Legal Services. She now works to create career pathways for women and girls of color who face barriers to employment and higher education because of their juvenile and adult criminal records.If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected.How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Molly Pollak. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

None of us can afford climate change, but the costs are even higher for Black and Brown people and communities, especially for those who can't afford heating or cooling. As the planet gets hotter, we must address climate change while also making sure that people can afford to keep their homes comfortable.  It's not too late, but if we don't act soon, we will pay one way or another. Bishop Dwayne Royster and Kintéshia Scott explain why environment vs. energy affordability is a false narrative, how systems of injustice are interconnected, and what we must do to make sure no one gets left behind in the transition to renewable energy. Guests: Bishop Dwayne Royster (@ddroyster) is the Executive Director of POWER, an interfaith coalition of activists, organizers and community advocates in Pennsylvania in their commitment to racial and economic justice on a livable planet. As a pastor, political activist, and radio show host, Bishop Royster's work is fueled by deep faith and passionate commitment to bringing about social justice. Kintéshia Scott (@KinteshiaScott) is a Staff Attorney in the Energy Unit at Community Legal Services. Kintéshia advocates for low-income Philadelphians to have access to affordable water, heat, and electricity in their homes through direct legal representation and policy advocacy.If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected.How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Molly Pollak. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

Welcome to America…. where low-income families risk losing their homes if a loved one lives in a nursing home or needs help with personal care at home. That's right. If a Medicaid patient receives long-term care, the state can recover costs from their estate after they pass away. Stephanie Altman from the Shriver Center on Poverty Law joins us to discuss Medicaid estate recovery. She breaks down who actually receives Medicaid, why estate recovery is a misleading name for taking the very few assets Medicaid patients leave behind, and the racist stereotypes that led to its creation in the nineties.Guest: Stephanie Altman (@StephanieAltma2) is the Director of Healthcare Justice and Senior Director of Policy at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law. She directs the Shriver Center's work to uncover systemic inequities and create new pathways for opportunity through legislation and systemic changes. She also directs the organization's healthcare advocacy, representing clients in individual and class actions related to healthcare equity and advocating for accessible healthcare through administrative and legislative forums. If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected.How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Molly Pollak. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

For many Black and Brown homeowners, their dream of homeownership disintegrates into a uniquely American nightmare designed to extract wealth and lock them out of economic mobility. Attorney Rachel Gallegos and Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson join us to discuss racial disparities in homeownership, the bureaucratic saga that unfolds when homeowners pass away, and changes needed to preserve Black and Brown intergenerational wealth. Councilmember Gilmore Richardson also shares her own family's struggle to untangle their titles and save their family homes. Guests: Rachel Gallegos (@RKG80) is a Senior Staff Attorney in the Homeownership and Consumer Rights Unit at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia. Prior to joining CLS, Ms. Gallegos was a law clerk to the Honorable John T. McNeill, III, in the Camden County Superior Court and the Honorable Annette M. Rizzo (Ret.) in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.Katherine Gilmore Richardson (@CouncilwomanKGR) is serving her first term as Councilmember At-Large for the City of Philadelphia. She is the youngest woman ever elected citywide and the youngest African American woman ever elected to the Philadelphia City Council. Councilmember Gilmore Richardson successfully championed legislation to require funeral homes to provide a guide to heirs so they understand their rights and how to keep their family home. If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected. How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Molly Pollak. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

ABOUT ROBERTA WALTON JOHNSON Roberta Walton Johnson currently serves as the General Counsel for the Orange County Clerk of Circuit and County Courts. She received two degrees from Florida A&M University–her undergraduate degree in 1996 and subsequently her Juris Doctorate in 2005 as an inaugural member of the re-established College of Law. Immediately after graduation in 2005, she joined Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida to litigate and provide advocacy on behalf of low-income clients in the areas of housing and public benefits. Roberta has held various roles throughout her career, previously serving with Orange County Government and thereafter with Voight P.A. Both personally and professionally, Roberta is a strong advocate for children and families in Orange County. She is engaged and active on multiple boards and committees including the Florida A&M College of Law Dean's Advisory Council, the Orange County Bar Association, the Florida 9th Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee, Orange County Government Board of Zoning and Adjustment Board, Orange County Bar Family Law Section, Paul C. Perkins Bar Association, Central Florida Family Law Inns of Court, Vice-Chairman of the Florida Bar Family Law Rules Committee and a Charter Member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Psi Theta Omega Chapter in Orlando, Florida.

America's housing system is designed to keep Black women locked out. But eviction records don't tell the whole story. Rasheedah Phillips joins us to discuss the national housing crisis and how systemic racism is embedded in housing policy. She breaks down racial discrimination in rental housing, how eviction records can haunt tenants for life, even if they haven't actually been evicted, and the opaque nature of tenant screening reports. With extensive local and national expertise, Rasheedah examines how and why Black women most often bear the brunt of the many structural inequities in the rental housing market. To solve this crisis, she calls on advocates to center the leadership of the people who are most impacted and then funnel resources to their efforts. Guest: Rasheedah Phillips (@RPhillipsBQF) is Director of Housing at PolicyLink, a national research and action institute advancing racial and economic equity. Rasheedah is also an interdisciplinary afrofuturist artist and cultural producer who has exhibited and performed work globally.If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected. How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Molly Pollak. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

Alan Dettlaff began his career in social work as a child welfare investigator. So how did he reach the conclusion that social workers must refuse to cooperate with the system altogether? Well, he tried to reduce racial disproportionality within child welfare and foster care for years. In this episode, Dr. Dettlaff shares his research on the unique harms that the family policing system imposes on Black, Latine, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ families, and he breaks down the carceral logic that drives the state to remove children from their parents. Finally, he lays out specific ways policymakers can shift power and resources to families. Guest: Alan Dettlaff (@AlanDettlaff) is Dean of the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston. Dr. Dettlaff's work focuses on addressing and eliminating the impacts of structural and institutional racism on Black children and other children of color impacted by child welfare system intervention. If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected. How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Molly Pollak. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

The Imprint Weekly Podcast will return with a new episode next week! For this week, we are turning the space over to feature a new podcast created by Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions: How Is That Legal? Breaking Down Systemic Racism One Law At A TimeOn each episode of How Is That Legal?,  host Kee Tobar and guests discussing specific ways that systemic racism is present in law and policy. On the episode we feature here today, Kee's guest is April Lee, director of client voice at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia.  April shares the obstacles parents must overcome to avoid losing their children forever and why she believes child welfare cannot meet its own standard of safety for children. You can find How Is That Legal in all the usual places, on Spotify. Apple, etc., and you can visit the show page at https://howisthatlegal.buzzsprout.com.

More than half of Black children experience a child welfare investigation by their eighteenth birthday– almost twice the prevalence for white children. April Lee knows the family surveillance system well. More than eight  years ago, April's three children were removed from her home. Among her family, friends, and community, most people have been through the child welfare system as parents, children, or oftentimes both. Now, she's using her lived experience to help Black and Brown parents reunite with their children and ultimately end the trauma of family separation. April shares the obstacles parents must overcome to avoid losing their children forever and why she believes child welfare cannot meet its own standard of safety for children. Guest: April Lee (@AprilLee215) is the Director of Client Voice at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia. If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected. How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Molly Pollak. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.Support the show

More than one in ten Black children in America will be forcibly separated from their parents and placed in foster care by the time they reach age eighteen. Professor Dorothy Roberts joins us to discuss the racialized history of parenting, family autonomy, and the child welfare system. From the role of slavery in framing the Black mother to disastrous 90s legislation rooted in racial stereotypes, Professor Roberts makes the case that child welfare was designed to punish the most disenfranchised communities instead of to protect children. After over thirty years of research, Dr. Roberts concludes that abolition is the only way to end the trauma caused by what she calls family policing. Guest: Dorothy Roberts (@DorothyERoberts) is the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology, the Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights, and a professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Her newest book, Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families– and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World is available today. If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected. 

Kee Tobar and expert guests break down examples of systemic racism in the law and policy. By the end of each episode, you'll understand the forces behind everyday injustices that make us ask, “How in the world is that legal?” In our first season, How Is That Legal will examine racial disparities in the child welfare system, housing discrimination, Medicaid estate recovery, utility shutoffs, and more.  If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected. How Is That Legal is a podcast from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Molly Pollak. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.

How many times have you encountered an injustice that shocked you so much that you wondered, “How in the world could this possibly be legal?” Well, that's exactly why we at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia created our new podcast, How Is That Legal. With help from our host, CLS Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer Kee Tobar, expert guests will break down specific examples of systemic racism in the law and policy and share how we can all work together to build a future free of injustice. As a queer Black woman from a working class background, native southerner, and legal aid attorney, Kee brings a grounded perspective and fierce commitment to dismantling legalized racism to every interview. Airing weekly on Wednesdays. If you enjoy this show and want to help fight poverty and injustice, consider making a donation to Community Legal Services today! You can also follow us on Twitter @CLSphila to stay connected.How Is that Legal is produced by Rowhome Productions. Jake Nussbaum is our Producer and Editor. Executive Producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers. Special thanks to Caitlin Nagel, Zakya Hall, and Molly Pollak. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions.

As the justice system continues to digitize, more data is collected and accessible. This information is often a record of some of the darkest hour. The panel of privacy and data security experts discuss how the shift from paper file storage trades risks to losing the hard copies for unpredictable risks to loss of personal privacy and data being used in unexpected and potentially harmful ways long after their legal issue is resolved. The speed of innovation in data collection is outpacing the creation of data policies and cybersecurity practices. What are the additional implications to under-served and marginalized communities? Jason Tashea, a member of LSC's Emerging Leaders Council, hosts the Talk Justice conversation with guests Zach Zarnow, principal court management consultant for the National Center for State Courts (NCSC); Jeff Harvey, CEO of Community Legal Services in Florida; and Shauna Dillavou, CEO of data security service Brightlines.  The digitization of the justice system far outpaces the creation of data protection policies. This has consequences for how data is used and what cybersecurity measures protect it. Courts and legal services providers are often left to decide for themselves how to appropriately handle vast amounts of virtual case data. This sensitive information concerning the individuals involved could have wide-ranging negative effects on their lives if shared, stolen or sold.  Generally, court proceedings are public, but that meaning has shifted.  “What does it mean to be public? I think when the laws were written around what is public and an open court, there wasn't a public that was global in your pocket...that's probably not the public we were meant to have in our open courts,” says Dillavou.   The individuals who interface with the courts likely have no real understanding of how their information is collected and stored, and where that information may go. Harvey says that for lawyers to low-income people in need of legal assistance, consent isn't straightforward, either. Lawyers explain to their clients that in order to give free legal services, they have to provide information to their funders, but people facing crises like eviction or domestic violence aren't usually concerned with, or even thinking about, the privacy implications of this data sharing.  When your participation in the legal system is compulsory, the destination of your data is out of your hands. This puts the courts in a powerful position, with a great deal of responsibility.  “The courts have users that they don't pick, but their users don't pick them either, so they have a duty to be really thoughtful about this, and make sure that when they're talking about terms of service and contracts that they're discussing data privacy: does the vendor have access to this or not? Can we control whether they have access to it or not?” says Zarnow. “As we've accelerated digital adoption, we 've really moved into a new era, particularly for the courts—these are the kinds of questions you can't afford not to ask anymore.”

There's a lot of talk about budgets in Washington—but budget debates are rarely humanized in ways that people can understand in real life terms. And that's a problem. Because a wide array of critical agencies across the federal government have been getting systematically underfunded over the years, resulting in very real problems for American families. A prime example is the Social Security Administration (SSA)—which oversees retirement, disability, and survivors insurance as well as Supplemental Security Income. Since 2010, SSA's operating budget has been cut by at least 16 percent, adjusting for inflation. Its staffing is down 13 percent, and all while the number of beneficiaries has gone up 21 percent. Why? Because Democrats have failed to get Republicans to join them in increasing SSA's administrative budget, which is so lean already it's just 1 percent of the benefits the agency pays out. What this kind of systematic disinvestment in a key federal agency means in human terms was the subject of a recent congressional hearing held in response to an outcry from constituents across the United States about customer service challenges in accessing Social Security. Hour-plus long waits, dropped calls, and an often simply nonfunctional 1-800 phone line; unconscionable delays for disability determinations that leave thousands dying every year waiting for desperately needed benefits; and a huge problem with overpayments or underpayments that occur through no fault of the beneficiaries because the agency just doesn't have the resources and staffing to process earnings reports on time are just a few examples of how this impacts individuals and families. So for this week's Off-Kilter, Rebecca sat down with two of the other witnesses from that hearing—Bethany Lilly of The Arc and Tracey Gronniger of Justice in Aging—as well as two of the other top experts on the issue: Kathleen Romig of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Kristen Dama of Community Legal Services, for a look at the human toll of defunding SSA.

There's a lot of talk about budgets in Washington—but budget debates are rarely humanized in ways that people can understand in real life terms. And that's a problem. Because a wide array of critical agencies across the federal government have been getting systematically underfunded over the years, resulting in very real problems for American families.  A prime example is the Social Security Administration (SSA)—which oversees retirement, disability, and survivors insurance as well as Supplemental Security Income. Since 2010, SSA's operating budget has been cut by at least 16 percent, adjusting for inflation. Its staffing is down 13 percent, and all while the number of beneficiaries has gone up 21 percent. Why? Because Democrats have failed to get Republicans to join them in increasing SSA's administrative budget, which is so lean already it's just 1 percent of the benefits the agency pays out.  What this kind of systematic disinvestment in a key federal agency means in human terms was the subject of a recent congressional hearing held in response to an outcry from constituents across the United States about customer service challenges in accessing Social Security.  Hour-plus long waits, dropped calls, and an often simply nonfunctional 1-800 phone line; unconscionable delays for disability determinations that leave thousands dying every year waiting for desperately needed benefits; and a huge problem with overpayments or underpayments that occur through no fault of the beneficiaries because the agency just doesn't have the resources and staffing to process earnings reports on time are just a few examples of how this impacts individuals and families.  So for this week's Off-Kilter, Rebecca sat down with two of the other witnesses from that hearing—Bethany Lilly of The Arc and Tracey Gronniger of Justice in Aging—as well as two of the other top experts on the issue: Kathleen Romig of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Kristen Dama of Community Legal Services, for a look at the human toll of defunding SSA. For more: Read Kathleen's new piece on SSA's funding crisis Read Rebecca's, Bethany's, and Tracey's testimony from last week's House Ways and Means Committee hearing Follow @kathleenromig; @bethanylilly; @traceythomgron; @kristendama on Twitter 

Following decades of failed tough-on-crime policies in the United States, between 70 million and 100 million Americans now have some type of criminal record, standing in the way of basics like jobs and housing for a huge swath of the nation's citizens. But a policy that's been gaining bipartisan steam in the states over the past five years, known as “Clean Slate,” has started to chip away at that gargantuan figure, by enabling people to have eligible records automatically wiped after they remain crime-free. In a special episode of Off-Kilter recorded at the Clean Slate Initiative's first annual convening in Detroit, Rebecca sat down with several of the leaders in the Clean Slate movement to talk recent wins in the states, how people's lives are being changed for the better, and the road ahead for criminal record-clearing with tough-on-crime rhetoric on the rise.  This episode's guests: Sheena Meade, managing director of the Clean Slate Initiative; Sharon Dietrich, litigation director at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia; Noella Sudbury, executive director of Clean Slate Utah; Josh Hoe, policy analyst at Safe and Just Michigan; and Zaki Smith, one of the leaders of the Clean Slate New York campaign. For more: Learn more about and get involved with the Clean Slate Initiative at cleanslateinitiative.org Here's a deeper dive on the rise of automatic record-clearing Learn more about Clean Slate PA, Clean Slate Utah, and Clean Slate Michigan Learn more about Zaki's mural campaign for second chances

Following decades of failed tough-on-crime policies in the United States, between 70 million and 100 million Americans now have some type of criminal record, standing in the way of basics like jobs and housing for a huge swath of the nation's citizens. But a policy that's been gaining bipartisan steam in the states over the past five years, known as “Clean Slate,” has started to chip away at that gargantuan figure, by enabling people to have eligible records automatically wiped after they remain crime-free. In a special episode of Off-Kilter recorded at the Clean Slate Initiative's first annual convening in Detroit, Rebecca sat down with several of the leaders in the Clean Slate movement to talk recent wins in the states, how people's lives are being changed for the better, and the road ahead for criminal record-clearing with tough-on-crime rhetoric on the rise. This episode's guests: Sheena Meade, managing director of the Clean Slate Initiative; Sharon Dietrich, litigation director at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia; Noella Sudbury, executive director of Clean Slate Utah; Josh Hoe, policy analyst at Safe and Just Michigan; and Zaki Smith, one of the leaders of the Clean Slate New York campaign. For more: Learn more about and get involved with the Clean Slate Initiative at cleanslateinitiative.org Here's a deeper dive on the rise of automatic record-clearing Learn more about Clean Slate PA, Clean Slate Utah, and Clean Slate Michigan Learn more about Zaki's mural campaign for second chances

On today's episode of The Confluence: the Pennsylvania Department of Health has proposed regulations that would require more inquiry into potential owners of nursing homes — Pam Walz, a supervising attorney with Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, explains why these regulations are needed; the Anti-Defamation League recently released data on the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the region, which are up compared to previous years; and how women in the workplace are often asked to do the “non-promotable tasks.”

ACLU Director of Border Strategies, Jonathan Blazer, joins Zerlina and Jess on the show to discuss the Biden administration and CDC decision to end the Trump-era immigration policy Title 42.As the ACLU's first Director of Border Strategies, Jonathan Blazer drives the ACLU's efforts to build strong and sustained support for humane border policies, working in close collaboration with ACLU's southern border affiliates. Jon returned to ACLU in 2020 after working as a Senior Program Officer at the Four Freedoms Fund and serving as California Attorney General Xavier Becerra's immigration advisor. Previously, he worked for twelve years in related positions at the ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), engaging in or supporting hundreds of battles for immigrants' rights at the state and local levels, while also working to connect these fights to federal advocacy efforts and longer-term strategies for social change. He started his legal career working as a legal services attorney in Philadelphia, where he founded the Language Access Project of Community Legal Services. Jon is based in ACLU's San Francisco office.

Reimaging child welfare starts with looking inward. On this bonus episode, get to know more about host Matt Anderson as he provides candid responses to listener questions about reimaging child welfare, the power of listening, and his source of hope. Call in with your questions and reactions at (512) 815-3956. 00:01:45  | Adrian McLemore, Program Officer, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Host, FosterStrong Podcast: What keeps you hopeful while doing this work, given how the premise of foster care is centered around traumatic experiences? 00:03:56  | Lyndsey Wilson, CEO, FirstStar: I'd love to hear you talk about why, as a service providing organization, is it important to prioritize hearing and telling stories? 00:07:04  | Maureen Sorenson, Senior Director of Foster Care Operations at Coordinated Care of Washington and Part-time Lecturer in the School of Social Work at the University of Washington: How can we encourage more [prospective] adoptive parents to be focused on reunification?  Maureen alludes to Seen Out Loud S1, E1: WHAT IF WE DIDN'T HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL BAD ENOUGH Matt references Seen Out Loud S1, E6: THE WALLS STARTED TO COME DOWN 00:10:12  | Kathleen Creamer, Managing Attorney of the Family Advocacy Unit, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia: What does it say about us that we've designed a system where expressions of care and compassion for parents are experienced and described by parents as miraculous exceptions?  Matt references Seen Out Loud S1, E2: LOOKING FOR THAT WARM HUG ALL MY LIFE 00:13:34  | Gina, Kinship Parent and Family Partner: When you're talking about amends, what does it mean [for child welfare] and how can we all work towards reestablishing trust with the [child welfare] systems.   Gina references Seen Out Loud S1, E1: WHAT IF WE DIDN'T HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL BAD ENOUGH  “Amends” are also discussed in Seen Out Loud S1, E7: TITLE THE MOMENTUM IS BUILDING 00:16:31  | Austin, Program Coordinator, Psychological Department of Social Services: How can we become better listeners? Can you offer any practical suggestions for how all of us can become better listeners?  00:19:17  | Matt shares final thoughts on Season 1 of Seen Out Loud. Call in at (512) 815-3956 to leave a message with your questions. Resources Submit your questions to our host by emailing our team at podcasts@instituteforfamily.org. Join our LinkedIn group to ask Matt Anderson and other professionals your questions about reimagining child welfare Book: “The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness” by Father Greg Boyle 

In this episode, Nadine gives a brief update on what's new with her professionally as the new Deputy Director of Community Legal Services at the Legal Rights Center.  Nadine also provides a brief review of the must-read memoir, Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement by Tarana Burke. 

On this week's podcast, we discuss the ongoing capacity crisis in Texas foster care, jarring numbers on community college enrollment, and new federal funds to seed innovation in supporting kinship caregivers.  Kathleen Creamer of Community Legal Services of Philadelphia joins to discuss two recent court cases of note in the state, Philly's high rate of foster care, the Adoption and Safe Families Act and more.Outside Experts Give Texas Roadmap to Decrease Sky-high Rates of Foster Kids Sleeping in Offices, Hotelshttps://bit.ly/3qptqezChapin Hall Study Finds Lack of Support for Foster Youth in Community Collegehttps://bit.ly/33vUpMtLooming Questions, 2022 Editionhttps://bit.ly/3Gld5ghA Court Reminds Us of the Obvious: Probable Cause Counts in Child Welfare Cases, Toohttps://bit.ly/3tedeP4Pennsylvania Supreme Court Issues Landmark Ruling in Child Welfare Casehttps://bit.ly/3GLLsNuHe's 400 Pounds. Pennsylvania Says That's Good Enough Reason to Deny Custody of His Childrenhttps://bit.ly/3GBsl94Free event! Tough Conversations on Understanding Addictive BehaviorsThursday, January 27, 10am PST. Register: www.bit.ly/fftwebinar

Gloria J. Browne-Marshall teaches classes in Constitutional Law; Race and the Law; Evidence; and Gender and Justice. She taught in the Africana Studies Program at Vassar College prior to joining the faculty of John Jay. She is a civil rights attorney who has litigated cases for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama, Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc. Professor Browne-Marshall has spoken on issues of law and justice in Ghana, Rwanda, England, Wales, Canada, South Africa and before the United Nations in Geneva. In addition to She Took Justice, Professor Browne-Marshall is the author of The Voting Rights War (2017) and Race, Law, and American Society (2013), and scores of articles in the academic and popular press. Professor Browne-Marshall is also the author and producer of the short 2021 film, Dreams of Emmett Till. This special event is in commemoration of the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, in recognition of both the power and the limitations of that document, and in honor of the dramatically underappreciated contributions of Black women to the women's suffrage movement in the U.S.

A new federal eviction moratorium was put in place by the CDC, and people have a lot of questions about it. Is this the same as the previous moratorium that expired at the end of July? Is money that has been allocated by the federal government to help renters and landlords getting where it needs to go? If not, why? Holly Beck is an attorney in the Housing Unit with Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, Beck joins KYW Newsradio In Depth to talk about the eviction moratorium, who can apply for assistance, and how to get the ball rolling.  Tenants can find more information here: Phillytenant.org The rental declaration can be found here: PHLrentassist.org Tenant hotline: 267-443-2500 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Benefits Data Trust is an organization headquartered in Philadelphia that helps connect people in Pennsylvania to benefits they may not have known they were qualified to receive. It also helps them navigate the process to get them. We wanted to talk about the work Benefits Data Trust is doing and also talk about some key initiaves they have going on -- one important one being working with Community Legal Services to provide help for people facing eviction. Another initiative is a partnership with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Health Plan that aims to improve the well-being of UPMC Health Plan members by helping them access critical public benefit programs. For this conversation we caught up with Trooper Sanders, the CEO of Benefits Data Trust, Rachel Garland of Community Legal Services, and Ray Prushnok, Executive Director of UPMC's Center for Social Impact. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stand Up is a daily podcast. I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 800 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous souls If you are interested in saving money on cannabis get a prescription right now from Veriheal.com/Pete The Earth is flat, the World Trade Center collapse was a controlled demolition, planes are spraying poison to control the weather, and actors faked the Sandy Hook massacre … All these claims are bunk: falsehoods, mistakes, and in some cases, outright lies. But many people passionately believe one or more of these conspiracy theories. They consume countless books and videos, join like-minded online communities, try to convert those around them, and even, on occasion, alienate their own friends and family. Why is this, and how can you help people, especially those closest to you, break free from the downward spiral of conspiracy thinking? In Escaping the Rabbit Hole, author Mick West shares over a decade's worth of knowledge and experience investigating and debunking false conspiracy theories through his forum, MetaBunk.org, and sets forth a practical guide to helping friends and loved ones recognize these theories for what they really are. Perhaps counterintuitively, the most successful approaches to helping individuals escape a rabbit hole aren't comprised of simply explaining why they are wrong; rather, West's tried-and-tested approach emphasizes clear communication based on mutual respect, honesty, openness, and patience. West puts his debunking techniques and best practices to the test with four of the most popular false conspiracy theories today (Chemtrails, 9/11 Controlled Demolition, False Flags, and Flat Earth)―providing road maps to help you to understand your friend and help them escape the rabbit hole. These are accompanied by real-life case studies of individuals who, with help, were able to break free from conspiracism. Rebecca Vallas is a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, where her work focuses on economic justice. Vallas joins TCF after seven years at the Center for American Progress, during which she helped to build and lead CAP's Poverty to Prosperity Program, in a range of roles, including as the program's first policy director and managing director, and later as vice president. During her time at CAP, Vallas also helped to establish CAP's Disability Justice Initiative—the first disability policy project at a U.S. think tank—as well as the organization's criminal justice reform work. Much of Vallas's policy and advocacy work flows from her years as a legal aid lawyer. In partnership with her legal aid alma mater, she co-developed the “clean slate” model of automated, automatic criminal record-clearing that is now law in Pennsylvania, Utah, and Michigan and advancing in additional states—while advancing national momentum for removing barriers to economic opportunity for justice-impacted individuals and families. In 2019, she co-founded the Clean Slate Initiative, a national organization supporting state efforts to adopt clean slate policies. Vallas previously served as the deputy director of government affairs for the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives, working to protect and strengthen the Social Security disability programs, including as co-chair of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Social Security Task Force. Forever a legal aid lawyer at heart, Vallas spent several years representing low-income individuals and families at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, where she began her work as a Skadden Fellow, and was the inaugural recipient of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association's New Leaders in Advocacy Award. Vallas has authored dozens of policy reports on antipoverty policy, income security, disability policy, access to justice, and criminal records/reentry policy; testified before Congress and state legislatures on numerous occasions; and been cited and quoted in media outlets across the country. She is also the creator and host of Off-Kilter, a nationally distributed podcast about poverty, inequality, and everything they intersect with. Vallas serves on the Board of Directors of the National Academy of Social Insurance and is a member of the Academy's 2020–2021 Economic Security Study Panel. Vallas was twice named to Forbes magazine's “30 Under 30” for law and policy, and later to Emory University's “40 Under 40.” She received her law degree from the University of Virginia and graduated summa cum laude from Emory University, where she received a bachelor's degree in psychology. In a past life, she was an operatically trained mezzo soprano. She's the proud mother of four rescue kitties. Pete on YouTube Pete on Twitter Pete On Instagram Pete Personal FB page

On this week's episode of The Imprint Weekly Podcast we discuss new proposals for abolishing "family policing" and creating a community-led parallel system for family support; lowered expectations on L.A. juvenile justice reform; and a surprising outcome among states that have raised the age since 2007. Jen Burdick of Community Legal Services of Philadelphia joins to talk about her organization's massive push to help clients file tax returns this year to prevent them from missing out on major new family supports that some believe could halve child poverty in America. Reading RoomEnvisioning a Different Future for Child Welfarehttps://bit.ly/3w8P2eLChanging the Child Welfare System Starts With Reframing Our View of Familieshttps://bit.ly/3hihLYULos Angeles Seeks to Delay Sweeping Juvenile Justice Reform Planhttps://bit.ly/3w1x3qwAdvocates Tout Data Showing Raise the Age Laws Haven't Overwhelmed States' Juvenile Facilitieshttps://bit.ly/3w7O5mIIRS Filing Portal for Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credithttps://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/child-tax-credit-update-portal

After a brief hiatus, Josh returns with a new episode featuring Kathleen Creamer, Esq.  Kathy is the Managing Attorney, Family Law Unit at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia. Josh and Kathy discuss dependency law, child welfare law, and the impact of the pandemic on children and families in the system.  Follow Kathy on Twitter @familyadvokat. As always, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review!

WERE YOU DAMAGED BY INACCURATE JUDGMENT OR LIEN INFORMATION ON YOUR CREDIT REPORT?  Learn How You Could Qualify for $1,500 from a Settlement with One of the Top Three Credit Reporting Agencies! Jim Francis is an accomplished consumer law attorney who works to protect consumers in federal and state courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  Francis' work at his firm, Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C., focuses on fair credit reporting, fair debt collection practices, and consumer class actions.  He has served as Class counsel in over 35 consumer class actions, trial counsel in two class actions, and counsel to some of the largest Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) settlements in history. He has published articles and spoken extensively about the FCRA. Francis appeared on various news programs, including the Today Show and PBS NewsHour to discuss consumer-related issues and was featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer.  Also, he currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA). Francis has been recognized for his work in consumer protection litigation.  In 2004, Mr. Francis was the youngest lawyer to be ranked in the Top 100 Superlawyers in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia Magazine and Pennsylvania Super Lawyers magazine.   He was subsequently ranked a Top 100 Pennsylvania Superlawyer in 2008, 2012, 2014-2018 and has regularly ranked one of the Top 100 Superlawyers in Philadelphia since 2004.  Also in May 2014, he received the Community Legal Services of Philadelphia's Equal Justice Award at its annual Breakfast of Champions. He is a 1992 graduate of Muhlenberg College (B.A., cum laude) and a 1995 graduate of the Temple University Beasley School of Law.   

WERE YOU DAMAGED BY INACCURATE JUDGMENT OR LIEN INFORMATION ON YOUR CREDIT REPORT?  Learn How You Could Qualify for $1,500 from a Settlement with One of the Top Three Credit Reporting Agencies! Jim Francis is an accomplished consumer law attorney who works to protect consumers in federal and state courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  Francis' work at his firm, Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C., focuses on fair credit reporting, fair debt collection practices, and consumer class actions.  He has served as Class counsel in over 35 consumer class actions, trial counsel in two class actions, and counsel to some of the largest Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) settlements in history. He has published articles and spoken extensively about the FCRA. Francis appeared on various news programs, including the Today Show and PBS NewsHour to discuss consumer-related issues and was featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer.  Also, he currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA). Francis has been recognized for his work in consumer protection litigation.  In 2004, Mr. Francis was the youngest lawyer to be ranked in the Top 100 Superlawyers in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia Magazine and Pennsylvania Super Lawyers magazine.   He was subsequently ranked a Top 100 Pennsylvania Superlawyer in 2008, 2012, 2014-2018 and has regularly ranked one of the Top 100 Superlawyers in Philadelphia since 2004.  Also in May 2014, he received the Community Legal Services of Philadelphia's Equal Justice Award at its annual Breakfast of Champions. He is a 1992 graduate of Muhlenberg College (B.A., cum laude) and a 1995 graduate of the Temple University Beasley School of Law.   

This week, Off-Kilter’s bringing you a conversation Rebecca moderated at The Century Foundation earlier this week, on the historic opportunity to make long overdue improvements to Supplemental Security Income as part of #BuildBackBetter—featuring Sen Sherrod Brown, Rep. Raul Grijalva, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman, as well as a panel of disability and seniors’ advocates.   Guests: Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH); Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D-NY); Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-CA); Nancy Altman, president, Social Security Works; Matthew Cortland, chronically ill, disabled lawyer and senior fellow, Data for Progress; Kristen Dama, managing attorney for SSI, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia; Tracey Gronniger, directing attorney, economic security, Justice in Aging; Mia Ives-Rublee, director, Center for American Progress Disability Justice Initiative; and Kathleen Romig, senior policy analyst, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.     Show notes: Event video: https://tcf.org/content/event/strengthening-ssi-must-part-building-back-better/ Polling: bit.ly/SSIpolling  Follow #DemolishDisabledPoverty  More on SSI: https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/550027-the-safety-net-program-congress-forgot?rl=1

This episode explores a recent report published by Community Legal Services of Philadelphia (CLS) featuring Rasheedah Phillips, managing attorney of housing policy at CLS. Throughout the episode, Ms. Phillips discusses the report’s key findings, equitable solutions beyond the pandemic, research methods that center people with lived experience, guidance for organizations seeking to strengthen racial justice work, and using language to better capture racial inequities. “When we look at the rate of evictions in Philadelphia and that those evicted most are Black people, we recognize that when speaking about housing instability and unaffordability we should frame these issues as race and gender issues,” says Ms. Phillips. “These issues connect back to redlining which still impacts Black communities today as we look at overall disinvestment and blight in these communities.” Intro/Closing Song: Free Music Library, YouTube, “Clover 3” URL: www.youtube.com/audiolibrary

Gloria J. Browne-Marshall, author of The Voting Rights War, examines laws posing challenges to American voters -- especially African-Americans -- from enslavement and woman's suffrage through current controversies of voter suppression, including: Grandfather clauses Literacy tests Felony disenfranchisement Photo identification requirements She also looks ahead to challenges that future voters are likely to face, especially after the tumultuous 2020 election. The session is moderated by Josephine McNeil Esq, Social Justice Advocate. Gloria J. Browne-Marshall is the author of many books including She Took Justice: The Black Woman, Law, and Power; Race, Law, and American Society: 1607 to Present. She is a Professor of Constitutional Law at John Jay College (CUNY). Prior to academia, Browne-Marshall litigated cases for the Southern Poverty Law Center, Community Legal Services and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc. She is the recipient of many awards including the Pulitzer Center grant, Wiley College Woman of Excellence Award and Frederick Lewis Allen Fellowship. She is a playwright with seven produced plays; the most recent one being Dreams of Emmett Till. This program is presented in partnership with Historic Newton, is cosponsored by the League of Women Voters/Newton and is funded in part by Mass Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gloria-j-browne-marshall/support

Leslie Richards goes on record with Cathryn Miller-Wilson, Executive Director of HIAS Pennsylvania, to discuss the history and important work of HIAS Pennsylvania, recent trends impacting immigration, and how COVID-19 has impacted the organization’s work. Learn More Cathryn Miller-Wilson graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1993 and has spent her career doing social justice work: representing parents accused of abuse and neglect at Community Legal Services, Inc., representing persons with HIV/AIDS at the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania and teaching and supervising law students who represented low-income persons in a variety of civil matters at both Drexel University School of Law and Villanova University School of Law.

As leaders at all levels of government work to “build back better”—and to address the nation’s legacy of racial injustice and persistent racial inequality—removing barriers to employment for workers with records is more urgently needed than ever amid the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and downturn, to ensure not only a full but an equitable recovery that does not leave tens of millions of system-impacted individuals and families behind. As Off-Kilter closes out our #SecondChanceMonth series for the month of April, we’re bringing you a conversation Rebecca had earlier this week with a group of state leaders who’ve been advancing transformative “clean slate” and fair chance licensing reforms in recent years: Michigan Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II Sharon Dietrich, litigation director at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia Representative Jordan Harris, Minority Whip of the Pennsylvania Assembly Josh Hoe, policy analyst at Safe and Just Michigan Whitley Carpenter, criminal justice staff attorney at Forward Justice in North Carolina Jael Myrick, interim director of the Clean Slate practice at the East Bay Community Law Center in California

As leaders at all levels of government work to “build back better”—and to address the nation’s legacy of racial injustice and persistent racial inequality—removing barriers to employment for workers with records is more urgently needed than ever amid the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and downturn, to ensure not only a full but an equitable recovery that does not leave tens of millions of system-impacted individuals and families behind. As Off-Kilter closes out our #SecondChanceMonth series for the month of April, we’re bringing you a conversation Rebecca had earlier this week with a group of state leaders who’ve been advancing transformative “clean slate” and fair chance licensing reforms in recent years: Michigan Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II Sharon Dietrich, litigation director at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia Representative Jordan Harris, Minority Whip of the Pennsylvania Assembly Josh Hoe, policy analyst at Safe and Just Michigan Whitley Carpenter, criminal justice staff attorney at Forward Justice in North Carolina Jael Myrick, interim director of the Clean Slate practice at the East Bay Community Law Center in California Video: https://www.americanprogress.org/events/2021/04/20/498350/growing-momentum-clean-slate-fair-chance-licensing-states/

Poverty researchers estimate that the income-boosting provisions in the American Rescue Plan Act, which President Biden signed into law last month, will cut child poverty in half, and that overall poverty in the U.S. will fall by one-third over the next year. But should we expect those promised reductions in poverty to transfer from spreadsheets to real life? A lot of the answer to this question hinges on whether federal policymakers take the steps needed to ensure we don’t just make folks ELIGIBLE for historic income security protections like the new child allowance, the EITC expansion for workers not caring for kids in their own homes, and $1,400 relief checks—but whether we make sure low-income individuals and families can actually ACCESS these benefits. So for this week's pod, Rebecca sat down with two of the advocates working on the access part of the equation: Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, who served from 2001 until 2019 as the IRS’s internal watchdog known as the national taxpayer advocate; and Jen Burdick, a lawyer in the public benefits unit at Community Legal Services.

Poverty researchers estimate that the income-boosting provisions in the American Rescue Plan Act, which President Biden signed into law last month, will cut child poverty in half, and that overall poverty in the U.S. will fall by one-third over the next year. But should we expect those promised reductions in poverty to transfer from spreadsheets to real life? A lot of the answer to this question hinges on whether federal policymakers take the steps needed to ensure we don’t just make folks ELIGIBLE for historic income security protections like the new child allowance, the EITC expansion for workers not caring for kids in their own homes, and $1,400 relief checks—but whether we make sure low-income individuals and families can actually ACCESS these benefits.    So for this week's pod, Rebecca sat down with two of the advocates working on the access part of the equation: Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, who served from 2001 until 2019 as the IRS’s internal watchdog known as the national taxpayer advocate; and Jen Burdick, a lawyer in the public benefits unit at Community Legal Services.

In normal times, women who are incarcerated face a unique set of challenges that are different from men's. The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded those challenges. Ivy Johnson, Adrian Perry, and Dr. Jill McCorkel are members of the Incarcerated Women's Working Group, a coalition of 40 public interest organizations in Philadelphia advocating for women who are in jails and prisons. In this episode, they describe some of the challenges that women inside are facing in the Philadelphia jails and in the state Department of Corrections and talk about why decarceration is needed now more than ever. "The Other Public Health Crisis in Prisons and Jails" by Dr. Jill McCorkel: https://www.penncapital-star.com/covid-19/mental-health-the-other-public-health-crisis-in-pa-s-prisons-and-jails-opinion/ "Supporting Women in the Criminal Legal System Through Access to Diversion Programs," a new report by Community Legal Services of Philadelphia: https://clsphila.org/criminal-records/report-women-diversionary-programs/

Regina interviews Noëlle Porter (Director of Government Affairs, National Housing Law Project) and attorney and artist, Rasheedah Phillips (Managing Attorney for Housing Policy at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia). In this episode, we talk about the past and present of the eviction crisis, current policies to prevent evictions and allow for adequate legal representation, and the policy changes needed to address evictions and poverty amidst a pandemic. Resources- National Housing Law Project Website:https://www.nhlp.org/ National Housing Law Project Policy Resources: https://www.nhlp.org/advocacy-and-litigation/advocacy/ Community Legal Services of Philadelphia Website:https://clsphila.org/ Rasheedah's Art Exhibit: https://apexart.org/yu.php?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=ImaginingPR&utm_medium=email Aspen Institute Research on Housing and Evictions:https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/the-covid-19-eviction-crisis-an-estimated-30-40-million-people-in-america-are-at-risk/ Action Alert on COVID19 Relief: https://nlihc.secure.force.com/actions/TakeActionNew?actionId=AR00928

Welcome to the sixth episode in our SVCF Philanthropy Now podcast mini-series featuring conversations focused on Racial Equity and Social Justice with the members of SVCF’s Community Advisory Council. Listen to the previous episode in the mini-series here, and continue to subscribe to the podcast to hear future episodes. Katrina Logan, Directing Attorney of the Economic Advancement Program at Community Legal Services and member of SVCF's Community Advisory Council joins Joyce Song, Director of Donor Engagement at Silicon Valley Community Foundation in conversation about how formerly incarcerated community members have been impacted by the pandemic. Community Legal Services advocates for changes to policy and systemic issues that perpetuate disparities, such as overincarceration in lower income communities, particularly communities of color. Listen to learn about Katrina’s work to address these disparities, how the changes brought on by the pandemic, and how you can get involved. In SVCF's Philanthropy Now podcast series, we explore trends in the world of philanthropy, social impact initiatives in Silicon Valley and beyond, and we look at how SVCF promotes innovative philanthropic solutions to challenging problems. Access the full show notes at siliconvalleycf.org

Flashpoint host and KYW Newsradio Community Affairs Reporter Cherri Gregg asks the burning questions about the Trump Administration’s ban on evictions through the end of the year. Rasheedah Phillips, managing attorney of housing policy at Community Legal Services, joins Dr. Vincent Reina, a professor at UPenn in the Department of City and Regional Planning and Sheryl Sitman, private landlord and Real Estate Investment Consultant, for an in-depth discussion of this very sensitive topic. Our Patriot Home Care Changemaker of the week is the B PHL Festival.  Executive director Michelle Hisstand is guest. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

How badly can false reports of abuse and neglect hurt a family?This week, Kathleen Creamer, the Managing Attorney of the Family Advocacy Unit at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, explains the devastating impacts that false, anonymous reports of child abuse can have on families. She and Jim break down the details, from traumatic and invasive investigations to protracted legal nightmares, and hope for how the system can be reformed.Support the show (http://parentalrightsfoundation.org/donate)

Host and KYW Newsradio Community Affairs reporter Cherri Gregg asks the burning questions about the re-opening of businesses throughout the region. What will the new business protocols look like? Dr. Larry Caplin, CEO of DOCS Health (https://docs.health/) and healthcare logistics expert, joins Sharon Dietrich, an attorney with Community Legal Services, Inc. (https://clsphila.org/) and Shanna and Angel Huff, co-owners of Simp's Cafe/ Convenience Store in Montgomery County (https://simps.ueniweb.com/). The newsmaker of the week is Prisons Commissioner Blanche Carney discusses the challenges of the pandemic behind the wall and how access to testing will inform their move toward a new normal within the jails. The Patriot Homecare Changemaker of the week is #WeArePhilly. Creator and restaurateur Rob Wasserman is guest.

The coronavirus pandemic has cost millions their jobs, and that means many tenants haven’t been able to pay rent, landlords have had trouble making mortgage payments and other bills are also stacking up. Sarah “Fred” Sherburn-Zimmer, director of the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco, and Katrina Logan, director of the economic advancement program at Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, discuss the potential effects. Debt can be sold to collections agencies, and even keep renters from accessing affordable housing, they said.

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com Across the country, tenant advocates and housing lawyers are sounding alarms that an increasing number of renters will not be able to pay rent on May 1st. What's more, they are concerned many renters will lose their homes as suspensions on evictions phase out and rent relief is not widely available.If you can't pay your rent, this is what you should do.Know the tenant protections where you liveThe best protection for renters right now are the eviction moratoriums. But coverage is patchy, varying by state, county and city.Knowing the status of evictions where you live helps you know your rights and protections.The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act includes a 120-day moratorium on evictions and late fees for properties that are secured by a government-backed mortgage. Many states also have temporary eviction moratoriums in place. The Department of Housing and Urban Development provides coronavirus-related updates on housing relief from each state, and Nolo, a legal services website, keeps track of coronavirus-related tenant protections."You can only make decisions if you have this information: Can evictions happen now where you are? If not, when will they open up again?" said Rachel Garland, managing attorney for the Housing Unit at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia.This can help you in asserting your rights.SOURCE: www.GwinnettDailyPost.com

We hosted a virtual town hall on COVID 19 and the impact on communities of color. Featuring Rodney and Erica McLeod founders of Change Our Future, Rodney of course starting Safety for the Superbowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles Philadelphia City Councilman Kenyatta JohnsonDr. Ala Stanford , GLENN ELLIS Sr. is a medical ethicist, researcher, lecturer and president of Strategies for Well-Being, LLC., Dr. Safiyya Shabazz, Md, Owner and Medical Director of Fountain Medical Associates, PC and family board certified family physician. We'll bring you an excerpt from that conversation, a lot of people are unemployed we talk with Sharon Dietrich of Community Legal Services with important information to help you get the unemployment you're entitled too especially if you're a gig worker or independent contractor. https://clsphila.org/ And because we need to talk about something other than COVID 19 – we're re-airing an interview about a truly beautiful love story – Patience and Alex Murray whose lives crossed following the tragic Pulse Nightclub shooting,https://sincerelypatience.com/

Interested in learning how you can help up to 1 in 3 people in your state, decrease unemployment, support business, strengthen families and improve economic growth?  Did we mention it has bi-partisan support?  A detailed summary of existing US clean slate laws and the supporting research.  Featuring interviews with Nila Bala of the R Street Institute, OH State Representative Jeffrey Crossman, and Orli Siegel with Community Legal Services of Philadelphia.

In this snackable corporate podcast, Josh Lazar will ask Mitch Stein the following questions as it pertains to Microsoft Teams and the Impact on Litigation.  -Could you describe your experience with Microsoft Teams from a compliance context? -How can an IT professional setup Teams appropriately to minimize the impact of litigation? -Can you explain the default retention settings within Teams? -What are the reporting capabilities of Teams? -How can an IT professional create a legal hold in Teams? -Where can listeners get access to more information about Teams compliance? -Where are private chats stored?   -Where are team chats stored? Host: @Josh Lazar, CEO and Founder, TechThinkTank  Speaker:  @Mitchell Stein, Director of Information Technology, Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida  Recorded on 7-26-19 

Aaron Freiwald, Managing Partner of Freiwald Law and host of the weekly podcast, Good Law | Bad Law, is joined by attorney Tracie Johnson, a recent Temple Law School grad and an Equal Justice Works Fellow, to discuss post-prison placement as well as her focus on helping young women of color in Philadelphia.     Tracie works at Community Legal Services in the Employment Unit to help create career pathways for women and girls of color who face barriers in their lives because of past interactions with the criminal justice system. Her fellowship, sponsored by the law firm, Greenberg Trauig, and Equal Justice Works, aims to help women who have been marginalized by our criminal justice system deal with the impacts their experiences may have had on their lives.   Through her work, Tracie represents and advocates for young women of color in Philadelphia who have criminal records to increase their access to meaningful employment, education and housing opportunities and to fight intergenerational poverty.  Tracie designed the fellowship herself and, as is clearly evident from our conversation, she brings an uplifting passion to this project.    Find out about Tracie’s Fellowship and Equal Justice Works here; check out their twitter for more information and updates: @EJW_org   Host: Aaron Freiwald Guest: Tracie Johnson     Follow Good Law | Bad Law: YouTube: Good Law | Bad Law Instagram: @GoodLawBadLaw Website: https://www.law-podcast.com

This week on Flashpoint: Host and KYW Community Affairs reporter Cherri Gregg asks the burning questions Michael Froelich, an attorney with Community Legal Services joins Hilary Emerson, Chief Legal, Housing and Zoning Counsel with Councilmember Cherelle Parker and Bernard Wigg, a victim of house stealing.  The newsmaker of the week is Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who just completed a 67 county listening tour focused on marijuana. The changemaker of the week is the Gateway Horseworks, a Malvern based nonprofit that provides horse psychotherapy to the community. Flashpoint airs every Saturday at 9:30 p.m. and Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on KYW Newsradio.

Senator Art Haywood was raised by his mother, a public-school teacher. Early on, she instilled the values of hard work and education within him. He attended public school and graduated from Morehouse College, the London School of Economics as a Marshall Scholar, and the University of Michigan Law School.Haywood practiced law at Community Legal Services and Regional Housing Legal Services with an emphasis on preserving and creating affordable housing. Haywood then focused his private practice on representing organizations focused on neighborhood revitalization.He was inspired by the 2008 Presidential campaign for Barack Obama and in 2009 ran and won Township Commissioner in Cheltenham Township. After serving as President of the Board of Commissioners, he became State Senator for the 4th District, which includes Montgomery County and parts of Philadelphia.Since taking office, Haywood and his staff have served more than 7,000 neighbors through constituent services at his district offices and community outreach events. In this interview, he talks about the Middle Neighborhoods Assistance Program that incorporates free home repair assistance from Rebuilding Together Philadelphia and free legal services through Regional Housing Legal Services (RHLS). These services are available to those in the Northwest section of Philadelphia and were made possible through the PA Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) and the Pennsylvania Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts Board (PA IOLTA).Website: SenatorHaywood.comFor more information related to the Jumpstart Philly Real Estate Radio Show, visit: JumpstartGermantown.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on Flashpoint: Host and KYW Community Affairs reporter Cherri Gregg asks the burning questions about Philadelphia's eviction crisis. A recent report revealed at 1 in 14 renters received an eviction notice in Philadelphia in 2016 where nearly half the city's residents rent. Barrett Marshall, Housing Law Staff Attorney at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, Algernon Allen, a licensed realtor, developer and landlord with properties in West Philadelphia and Fatoumata Gamble, a tenant at Admiral Court who was given three weeks to vacate her apartment. Also, Mary Beth Appel, a nurse practitioner at the Catholic Worker Free Clinic in Kensington talks about her mission to remember those lost to addictions. Finally, Miles Wilson, President and CEO of Educationworks discusses the non-profit's on going effort to teach underserved kids the skills the pay the bills. Flashpoint airs every Saturday at 9:30pm and Sunday at 8:30am on KYW Newsradio 1060AM. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The battle over voting rights has been one of the most contentious issues in American politics over the past five decades. The country has celebrated a number of advancements and achievements, only for some of them to be overturned later. It’s an issue that continues to resurface, as it’s at the heart of the American democratic process. Joining today’s episode to discuss voting rights is former civil rights attorney Gloria J. Browne-Marshall. She’s an associate professor of constitutional law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. Browne-Marshall litigated cases for Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama, Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc. She’s the author of many articles and several books including “Race, Law, and American Society: 1607 to Present,” which includes a chapter on voting rights and race. Her forthcoming book is “Black Women and the Law: Salem Witch Trials to Civil Rights Activists.” An award-winning playwright of seven produced plays, her most recent work, “Diversity,” examines marriage choices.

HIV is a disease that we have turned into a crime, argues Ryan Peck. The Centre for Research on Health Equity and Social Inclusion, Community Legal Services at Western Law, and HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario hosted this lunchtime talk with Ryan Peck to discuss practices, policies, and reform efforts pertaining to the criminal … Continue reading "HIV is Not a Crime"

Rasheedah Phillips, artist, author and managing attorney of the Landlord-Tenant Housing Unit of Community Legal Services will deliver a keynote address in celebration of Martin Luther King Week in Law School room 101, sponsored by Pepper Hamilton LLP. Rasheedah Phillips is managing attorney of the Landlord-Tenant Housing Unit of Community Legal Services, where she advocates for clients facing eviction. Rasheedah began her legal career as a 2008 Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Fellow, and from 2008-2012 she directed the Childcare Law Project, which provided legal support to child care providers, including non-profits and small business owners, and advocated on legislative issues that affect child care businesses. Rasheedah is also the creator of Community Futures Lab, a performance space and community center located in the Sharswood area of North Philadelphia, where she and other local artists and advocates are documenting the histories of the rapidly changing neighborhood. Rasheedah’s work was recently referenced in the New York Times and Art in America, and she is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2013 Next Generation of Women Leaders Rising Star Award and the 2016 Blade of Grass Fellowship for Socially Engaged Art.

“Our country is a democracy because of the rule of law. When we don’t have justice for everybody, we don’t have justice for anyone.” - Bruce Blackwell At the 2016 Annual Florida Bar Convention, Kimberly Sanchez, Ericka Garcia, and Bruce Blackwell discuss legal aid and pro bono representation to help elderly, poor, veteran, disabled, and other legally vulnerable people throughout Florida. Ericka and Bruce work for The Florida Bar Foundation, a leader and funder for legal aid services around the state of Florida. They talk about the growing need for lawyers to offer pro bono services and why they should. Lawyers at the end of their lives don’t remember the big corporate cases, Bruce explains, they remember helping those in need keep a house. Kimberly is the executive director of legal aid in central Florida. She talks about how her organization receives aid from The Florida Bar Foundation and provides need-based assistance in civil matters like housing, evictions, foreclosures, bankruptcies, and injunctions for domestic violence, among others. With only 45 lawyers on staff, Kimberly’s program relies heavily on Florida lawyers offering pro bono services to fill the gap. Stay tuned to hear how and why you may want to contribute your services. Bruce Blackwell is CEO of The Florida Bar Foundation, a statewide charitable organization whose mission is to provide greater access to justice. Previously, he was a trial lawyer for 40 years. Bruce is a 5th generation Floridian from North Central Florida. Ericka Garcia is director of pro bono partnerships at The Florida Bar Foundation where she creates partnerships and collaborations. She started doing pro bono at age 15 as a voluntary day legal aid in Miami. Previously, she was the developmental disabilities attorney for the legal aid society in Orlando, Florida, representing foster children with disabilities. Kimberly Sanchez is the executive director of Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida (CLSMF). Kimberly is the former advocacy and deputy director of CLSMF, managing litigation and working to create organization-wide litigation goals and vision.

Host: LaShawn Allen-Muhammad  Special Guest:   Gloria J. Browne-Marshall, Associate Professor of Constitutional Law at John Jay College and a member of the Gender Studies faculty.  Professor Marshall was a Civil Rights attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, and NAACP LDF. She speaks nationally and internationally about the U.S. Constitution as well as racial justice.  The Federal government established Constitution  Day as September 17. On this day, the U.S. Constitution was drafted in 1787. Across the nation, programs are held to inform communities about this document and the rights created by it.  Given the events in Ferguson, and the depth of contribution made by African-Americans using protest, this year's theme is "The Art of Protest" 

Carrie Menkel-Meadow is a member of the founding law school faculty law at UCI. She is the author of Dispute Processing and Conflict Resolution: Theory, Policy and Practice (2003), and co-author of What's Fair: Ethics for Negotiators (2004, with Michael Wheeler), Dispute Resolution: Beyond the Adversarial Model (2005, with Lela Love, Andrea Schneider and Jean Sternlight), Negotiation: Beyond the Adversarial Model (with Andrea Schneider and Lela Love, 2006); Mediation: Beyond the Adversarial Model (with Lela Love and Andrea Schneider, 2006) and editor of Mediation Theory, Policy and Practice (2000); the author of several other books and over 100 articles on subjects ranging from dispute and conflict resolution, negotiation, mediation, legal procedure, legal theory, legal ethics, feminist theory, law and popular culture and legal education. She has won the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution First Prize for Scholarship in ADR three times, (1983, 1991, 1998) and the Rutter Prize for Excellence in Teaching at UCLA Law School (1992) and the Frank Flegal Award for Teaching at Georgetown (2006). In addition to her scholarship and teaching, Professor Menkel-Meadow has trained lawyers, judges, diplomats, government officials, and mediators on five continents and is herself an active arbitrator and mediator. She has served as a mediator or arbitrator in the Wellington Asbestos Claims Facility, the Dalkon Shield Trust, the Merrill Lynch Settlement Program, ICANN domain names disputes, United Educators education disputes and a wide variety of other public and private matters. She has taught at the law schools of Georgetown University (1992-present), Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California at Los Angeles (1979-98), Temple University, the University of Toronto, Osgoode Hall, York University, the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) and Universidad Alberto Hurtado (Santiago) and Catolica Universidad (Temuco) Chile, and has lectured throughout the world. She served as a Fulbright Scholar in Chile in 2007 where she taught mediation, arbitration, deliberative democracy and civil engagement in a variety of academic and practical settings, while researching topics related to restorative justice. She currently serves as co-editor in chief of the Journal of Legal Education, the International Journal of Law in Context and Associate Editor of the Negotiation Journal, published by the Harvard Program on Negotiation. Professor Menkel-Meadow holds a B.A. magna cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia University (1971), a J.D. cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania (1974), where she also served on the Law Review and as an Arthur Littleton Legal Writing Fellow, and an LL.D. (Hon.) (1995) from Quinnipiac College of Law. She served on the Board of Directors and as Secretary of the American Bar Foundation, on the Executive Committee of the Center for Public Resources and is a member of the American Law Institute and the American College of Civil Trial Mediators. Professor Menkel-Meadow began her career as a legal services attorney at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, was briefly an associate at Dechert, Price and Rhoads, and was a founding faculty member of the clinical program at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She continues to consult for the federal courts on issues involving ADR, especially on issues of program design and ethics.